Documentary film Absence/Presence is screening at the Minneapolis/St. Paul international film festival this weekend. Director Jed Schlegelmilch uses the powerful initiation of the death of his brother as a catalyst for his own creativity and healing. I love the phrase Nex Fecundo Vita - ‘death fertilizes life’ - and I couldn’t think of a better living example of this than Jed’s brave and inspiring film.

Join a man as he spends 10 days revisiting an unimaginable horror from his childhood for the first time. Nearly 17 years after his brother’s death, Absence/Presence is the truly raw, emotional and ultimately life affirming experience that comes from finding the courage to stare into the depth of the most devastating event of your life and still ache to know more. Absence/Presence was directed and edited by Jed Schlegelmilch.